We Need To Jettison Fuel Rules, Too

Thanks to a Republican Congress and a Southern president, American’s 50 states now may set their own speed limits. This breakthrough thrills agro-Americans (formerly known as “rednecks”), who appreciate the value of a good, fast vehicle. It also enrages Naderites, who want to shield hapless humans from all forms of danger - and excitement.

The new law captures the public’s disgust with having to travel at 55 miles per hour on thoroughfares engineered to provide safe passage at 80 mph or more. Americans don’t like to putter when they can make good time. As a result, 21 states seem likely to raise the legal driving speed within the next month or so, and another 20 could follow suit within the year. Montana wins the libertarian award. It established the first American autobahn. Drivers there have permission to drive as fast as conditions permit during daylight hours.

Foes of the law predict that more people will die on our roads as a result of the change, and they’re right: Some lead-footed morons will escort themselves and others to early graves.

But don’t expect dramatic changes. Motorist fatality rates have fallen 90 percent since the government began collecting such data in 1923 - from 21.65 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles to 1.83 deaths in 1993. This trend has continued unabated even though speeds have risen consistently since Congress decided in 1974 to reduce the maximum interstate speed to 55 mph.

The Federal Highway Administration estimates that drivers zip along rural interstates at an average clip of nearly 67 mph these days, but this figure includes data from only 11 states. Other organizations have produced more realistic-sounding guesses of 75 mph for rural interstates and 66 mph for urban highways.

Even though self-proclaimed consumer advocates predicted thousands of deaths when Congress raised rural speed limits in 1986, the promised holocaust didn’t occur. The fatality rate actually fell 8 percent the year the law took effect.

The new law will not produce mortuary gridlock. Auto companies continue to build better and safer cars because most folks want such benefits. Furthermore, the vast majority of fatal accidents occur on surface streets at speeds below 45 mph. A very small portion of all fatal crashes - less than 5 percent - involve speeds in excess of 65 mph.

The measure also provides some benefits. People will reach their destinations more quickly. Some experts calculate Americans will save 1.3 billion work hours per year - a potential savings of $10 billion or more. Still, the most important and intangible benefit of the new law is freedom. Federal authorities have decided to butt out of a matter traditionally reserved for states.

If Naderites really want to save lives, they ought to forget about speed limits and slay a beast they helped create, the corporate average fuel effiency standards. These regulations require automobile companies to sell cars this year that average 27.5 miles per gallon in fuel consumption.

The law, like the 55 mph speed limit, was hatched in the early 1970s as a way to save Americans from an energy crisis that vanished the moment Congress deregulated oil prices. Yet, in trying to avert one problem, the CAFE standards created a host of others.

They helped wipe out Detroit’s dominance of the auto industry, for instance, by boosting German and Japanese imports during the 1970s and ‘80s. They also forced consumers to purchase lighter vehicles - which also happen to be considerably less safe than larger rigs. A study conducted by Harvard University and the Brookings Institution concluded in 1989 that the down-sizing necessitated by CAFE helped push fatality rates up between 14 percent and 27 percent. That would produce an “extra” death estimate of 2,000 to 4,000 people per year, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Americans don’t get much in exchange for this sacrifice on the altar of environmentalism. Kenneth Chilton and Michael Sykuta of the Center for the Study of American Business estimate that a 40 percent increase in the standards “would reduce gasoline demand by less than one-fourth of 1 percent - less than one day’s consumption of gasoline per year.”

Consumer advocates routinely ignore the fact that regulations create trade-offs. In the case of speed limits, many Americans like their freedom of movement more than they support a bureaucrat’s right to dictate what kind of cars they may drive.

The old speed-limit statute symbolized Washington’s determination to micromanage people’s lives in the name of “safety.” Its repeal shows that Americans don’t want that kind of “help” anymore. It the roads become a little less safe, that’s a risk we’ll take - without seeking permission from the likes of Ralph Nader. xxxx